Whether or not music tells a story has been quite the topic of debate in class and on the blog. However, assuming that music with words can indeed be considered narrative (which I think at this point, it is safe to assume), a natural question comes to light.
What of music videos? Can they be considered part of the same narrative text? Are they paratext? Are they essential parts of the narrative text without which the story of the song isn't complete? Sure, some videos simply add to the song, extending the song's narrative, and illustrating what was previously only words, but then there are songs that take on an entirely different meaning when viewed with the video. Occasionally, one might even encounter a music video that has absolutely nothing to do (or very little to do) with the song.
In the first vein:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4-aUiddpUo
The Kid's Aren't Alright, by Offspring. The song is about Urban Decay, and it's pretty clear from the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuK2A1ZqoWs
Handlebars, by Flobots. The video follows the words image by image.
In the second vein, there are a couple:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF2lJ5VtQbs
You're Gonna Go Far Kid, by the Offspring. While this video doesn't really do anything against what the song is just by lyrics...when I first listened to the song, the initial image I got was not golden magic guitars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWhE3KlwR40
Image of the Invisible, by Thrice. This song, especially, doesn't have nearly as much of a story without the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE
Sabotage, by the Beastie Boys. The song's meaning becomes a LOT clearer in the video, when it becomes clear that they're parodying Cop shows.
The third vein is a bit rarer, and it becomes extremely debatable whether the video is even the same narrative at this point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj7UBgVVew8
Holy Diver, by Dio. The song is...well, to be perfectly honest, I don't really have any idea what Dio is singing about. But the initial impression (indeed, the "diver" imagery) of the lyrics does not evoke the Sword and Sorcery imagery in the music video.
So the question comes up--at what point is the music video a separate narrative? Is it ever?
What even makes something a music video?
Im actually really glad that you had brought this up, because i was just watching the unforgiven (theatrical version) by metallica, and i couldn't help but wonder, if it counted as a music video, or if it was truelly its own subegenre? If you watch any other metallica videos based on the unforgiven songs, they ahve the same black and white style and thay are all somehwat unexplanatory to anything
The Unforgiven (theatrical version) www.youtube.com/watch
Metallica The Unforgiven Metallica www.youtube.com/watch
The Unforgiven II Metallica www.youtube.com/watch
That's so funny because just
That's so funny because just as I was reading this post, some Metallica music videos popped in my mind. I think that as a general rule, music videos are not necessary to tell the story, but they certainly can enhance it or bring to light other messages that weren't as clear. But what I dislike is when music videos veer way off track as to what the song is actually saying.
RE: That's so funny because just
I don't know if music videos should be simply dismissed because they veer off of what the song is saying explicitly. Often this tends to produce an entirely different narrative, something new that is produced from the amalgam of video and song. This might be completely different from the original song, but whatever?
To use my above example of Holy Diver, while the music video doesn't really follow what the song is saying (I think), it produced an entirely new story, one of general parody--ending in Killswitch Engage producing a cover of the song, producing a parody music video (which has, as far as I can tell, been removed from YouTube). From there, people have taken THAT cover, and set it to other things, like Hot Fuzz.
If Holy Diver had indeed delivered exactly what it promised (maybe a priest smoking pot underwater?), this probably wouldn't have been possible.
...well, okay, maybe Killswitch Engage would've parodied a song about an underwater druggie priest.
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